Over the Stone River Path
by abracadaver
Summary: Touched by time in a timeless realm Haku remembers the young girl who saved him and never looked back... But what if she did?


**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** So, this literally started as a review for my friend's fan fiction. Sort of a thank you present for writing the fic she's currently writing for me and I just sort of randomly got inspired. And I ran with it. Not sure if I want this to be just a one-shot or something more. You tell me. Enjoy!

xxx.

Haku squinted his eyes against the bracing wind of the passing train, bellowing beneath the bathhouse's red bridge. He leaned over the banister and watched as the train got farther and farther away. His eyes subconsciously following the rhythmic sloshing of the waves beneath, as his mind began to wander. Many years had passed in the spirit realm, or maybe no years had passed, or rather in the nothing time he had aged.

His lips pursed into a thin line as he brush a stray ink green lock of hair behind his ear. Soon he would cut it, again. But as it was his want, he would often forgo the tedium of hair cutting till he could bear it no longer. And this time, as many times before it, his hair had grown to an excessively impractical length.

Today, though, perhaps he would have time to cut it. Yubaba had no new assignments for him as of late so he was allowed this opportunity to merely relax.

Haku inwardly scoffed at such a thought, relaxing to him was often as taxing to him mentally as an assignment ever was physically. His mind was always working, planning, considering, pondering, and more often than not wondering. This sort of mono no aware, this fleetingness of life and existence had become more constant since he last saw Chihiro.

He certainly did not love her, at least not in the human concept of love, one more often than not of romance than anything else.

No, it was more than that.

On the day he had remembered his name he could never remember feeling more complete and blissfully happy in so many years. Chihiro had saved him and for that he was unwaveringly grateful, the young girl he had once saved had returned the favor.

But then she left.

And something changed.

That wholeness dissipated.

...

Haku sighed as he turned from the seamless waves and began to walk slowly back towards the Bathhouse beneath the setting sun. The lanterns slowly began to glow and another night busy night was about to commence. As he stepped off the bridge he glanced star ward, fleetingly wondering of the brave little girl who saved him, wondering how old she was now. How much time had passed in her realm? Had it only been mere days, weeks, or perhaps even years?

The light behind the entry tapestry glowed bright and the sounds of waking spirits began to grow faintly behind him across the bridge. He paused and wondered, would today be the day I leave for good? He had returned to the Bathhouse after a short period of wandering. Having realized his river had been replaced with apartments and finding no other place to call home he returned to Yubaba. Under the strict verbal contract of no contract, that he would work for her until he grew bored of it. She had, of course, been adverse to this idea initially. But soon remembered, that few if any of her employees were as competent, resourceful, and reliable as Haku. So, she had grudgingly agreed under the once stipulation that he refrain from bringing humans into the Bathhouse.

At this statement he'd scoffed, she acted as if he pulled them off the streets like stray kittens.

It had been only one girl.

Chihiro.

He turned back to look across the bridge, the sun almost gone beneath the horizon, had he expected to see her standing behind him again? The chimes of destiny began to toll lightly in his ears, that same exhilarating sensation building up in his chest. As the wind simultaneously picked up in gusto and the suddenly realization that she had not listened to him hit him.

It was faint.

How many days had he stood here on this bridge thinking the same things he had today? He was unsure. To a human the counting of paired appearances of a moon and a sun would equal a day. But many nights could pass in the span of one day in the spirit realm or no nights could pass at all.

Despite the minutia of detail, time had affected him, despite its arbitrary nature in this realm. He stood a whole foot taller and he'd matured considerably since he told her not to look back. How had she changed? Was he about to greet an old woman?

His heart thrummed excitably regardless in anticipation.

The small shift in the world, a small beating of a warbling heart unnatural to this realm and he knew it was Chihiro's. That feeling of wholeness returned to him, that he'd felt in the tumbling flight from Swamp Bottom. With her hand held his and tears of blissful remembrance greeted him from her warm brown eyes.

Friendship.

Suddenly, he was running across that bridge, passing unseen by all the spirits in the small village. He was pulled to her like a man who had traveled the Sahara bereft of water. His long legs carried him twice and he would reach her in half the time it had required him before.

And suddenly he was at the edge of the village, eyes desperately flicking across the space before him, looking for the scared and shaking form of the young girl who had captured his heart.

How and to what degree he was uncertain and perhaps he could find out to just what extent this time around.

But as his eyes scanned the barren banks of the boundless sea spread before him he did not see her sad, scared form. He felt a weird dropping sensation in his own chest. As if his heart had been pulled down by some malevolent force that had crept unseen into his own chest.

_Expectations…_ he mused.

The sensation was gone, she was not here, and perhaps she had forgotten him once she returned to her world. It would not have been so hard to believe. After all, she had not been the first human to stumble into their world and she would not be the last.

How else had they managed to remain in the books of legend and myth?

He began his slow somber trek back towards the Bathhouse, his mind remorsefully returning towards his responsibilities. And he was only 5 steps away from the were he'd stood when he felt his heart thrum and the odd human sensation return to the air.

He turned quickly his green eyes wide as he looked at the young women behind him. She stood casually with a small smile on her face and he glanced over her translucent form. His gaze stopping at her hands, which betrayed her nervousness, as, they fiddled with the edges of her ivory sweater. When she spoke, his eyes flicked back up in disbelief at the girl before him.

"So, I looked back. Sorry, I just…" Her smile got bigger as she laughed nervously and looked away from him for a moment. He slowly became aware of how stupid he must look, gaping at her.

So he straightened himself from his stupid surprised slump and coolly swept his long hair over his shoulder. His smile appearing in time with his happy hearts thrilled beats.

"No, don't be," His voice was deeper than it had been when he last saw her but it still had that calm cadence that sounded so very Haku to the young woman's ears, "but for some reason I really did not want you to heed my words, Chihiro."

xxx.

Review please!


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